


The Same Old Halls

by Augustus



Category: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-08-24
Updated: 2001-08-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:23:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Augustus/pseuds/Augustus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The companions meet up after a long separation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not quite sure where this bunny came from, but it bit me bad! Too much Sweet Valley High over my life time, probably.

To Tanis, it felt odd that the path he walked was so familiar. It seemed as though a lifetime had passed since the last time he had taken the well-worn route and yet it had only been a matter of months, weeks even. He felt different, changed. It wasn't just the new growth of artfully trimmed facial fuzz, so carefully tended over the summer months. This feeling went beyond appearances. 

When his mother had told him at the end of his junior year that he was to spend the summer in Arizona with relatives, Tanis' first thought had been to somehow get out of it. After all, he'd had plans for the holidays. He was going to spend time with Kitiara, get in a solid football pre-season with Sturm and Caramon, perhaps even while away a few hours in idle debate with Flint. With one mention of Auntie Noranis, however, all such plans had gone right up in the proverbial flames. While things had gone better than planned (he'd actually managed to get to second base with one of his aunt's friend's daughters!), Tanis wasn't about to let anyone know about that. The official story was going to stay along the lines of 'summer vacations with family are way uncool.' Besides, if things went according to plan, he'd be too busy making out with Kit to answer too many questions...

Whistling the chorus of whatever song was top of the charts that week, Tanis stroked his manly facial adornment and continued on his way to school. 

Flint felt unusually pleased at the thought of returning to the halls of Solace High. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had just spent six long weeks in the company of what seemed like every Fireforge to ever have lived on Earth. Family reunions were all very well, but Flint had come to the conclusion that there should be some legally enforced time limit on how long kin could spend in each other's company. In the end, it always disintegrated into squabbling, the hereditary Fireforge ill-humor doing little to smooth ruffled feathers when one distant cousin decided to declare himself the best panel-beater of them all. It was traditional for family members to carry a phenomenal knowledge about and ability with the workings of cars. Unfortunately, it was also traditional for the same family members to hate each other's guts. 

School seemed pretty good after a summer of such irritations, a fact that Flint freely grumbled about as he strode down Fourth, the sandstone buildings of the High not yet in sight. Sure, he should have graduated the year previously, but what did an extra year of school matter when he'd all-too-soon be out into the wide world of auto mechanics? Most of his friends were to be seniors this year too, so he'd have better company for his second time around. And, even if he didn't manage a pass on his second attempt, there was always the next year, Tas' senior year. Time had never been a great issue to Flint. 

With a teeth-grating bump, Tanis crashed solidly into the much-shorter body of another boy as he rounded the corner of Lincoln and Forth. For a moment he contemplated seeing stars, but eventually decided on the more simple option of shaking his head dazedly, and uttering a few quick expletives under his breath.

"To you too!" came a surprisingly familiar voice from under his left armpit.

"Flint?" Tanis asked, amazed, disentangling himself from his accidental assailant.

Released from the headlock, the other boy gaped at Tanis in surprise. "Tanis!" he exclaimed finally. "Why, I'll be damned!" He shook his own head in amazement. "Tanis Half-Hispanic," he said slowly. "Of all the people to meet on the way to school... I almost didn't recognize you with the wanker tuft."

"It's a goatee," Tanis replied haughtily. 

"Whatever you want to call it..." Flint eyed him critically. "I thought your lot couldn't grow facial hair."

"Call it a gift from my Yankee father," Tanis shrugged. "Everyone's wearing them in Arizona."

"How _was_ your summer, then?" Flint asked, thankfully distracted from his analysis of facial adornment. "Better than mine, I hope."

"Doubt it." Tanis rolled his eyes. "Auntie Noranis' cooking hasn't improved since I was last there."

"Did you check out any universities while you were out there?" Flint raised an insinuative eyebrow. "Infiltrate any future fraternities...?"

Tanis shook his head sadly. "No such luck. It looks as though Raistlin was right after all. Politically correct geeks seem to be infiltrating even our most sacred places these days."

"Raistlin? Pah!" Flint grumbled, picking up his bag from where it had landed in the collision and dusting it off as he spoke. "What would _that_ skinny freak know about the correct order of things? Why, if it weren't for his brother, Caramon, I hate to think where he'd -"

There was a rustle of leaves and a creaking of wood and suddenly a small body was hurtling down from the top of the fence at Flint and Tanis' rear.

"Morning, losers!" the body greeted them cheerfully, as Flint and Tanis untangled themselves for the second time that morning. "Fancy meeting you here!"

As Flint turned, he realized that the body was attached to a head - a rather familiar one at that. "Tasslehoff Burrfoot!" he exclaimed, not without a little pleasure. "Damn you and your blasted kleptomania!"

Shaking his head, Tas busied himself with helping Flint to rearrange his backpack on his shoulders. "Honestly, Tanis, you'd think he might have learnt some manners over the last few weeks, wouldn't you?" He smiled sagely at Flint. "Is that any way to greet someone you've not seen all summer?"

Tanis sighed and shrugged non-comittally. He wasn't stupid enough to get caught up in any quarrels between Tas and Flint. Why, you could waste an entire lifetime acting as referee - that is, if you didn't drown in the tension between them in the interim. "Well, Tas," he eventually began, trying to put things as politely as possible, "things do have a habit of going missing when you're around." He watched, unsurprised, as a small hand darted into Flint's backpack and then straight out again. "The same things that then get rediscovered in your pockets."

Tas frowned in confusion. "Things? What things?" Smiling innocently, he made a show of patting down his form, LAPD Blue-style. The smile dropped into a look of interest as his right hand encountered a new bulge. "What's this? Hey - it looks a little like your wallet, Flint! I wonder how that found its way into my jeans. It must have been when you tripped just before."

"You thieving little..." Flint's face slowly colored until it was a pleasant shade of vermilion. "I'll thrash you to within an inch of your life!"

Tas raised an eyebrow, holding out the wallet to be reclaimed, completely undeterred by Flint's raving. "Promises, promises..."

Growling wildly, Flint cast the rearranged backpack to one side, narrowly missing Tanis, and leapt upon the younger boy, fists flailing. Tas giggled and merrily joined in the wrestling, his ponytail bouncing hypnotically with the effort.

Tanis gave them a moment to celebrate their reunion, then gingerly prodded the scuffling tangle of limbs with one foot. "Come on, guys," he said firmly. "Keep this up for much longer and we'll be late for school. It's our first day back - much more important than this nonsense."

As Tas and Flint happily ignored Tanis' wise words, a new voice broke into the relative silence. "Oh? It is? I guess it's lucky we’re here to show you the way, then, isn't it?"

Turning, Tanis immediately realized that there were larger problems in life than the effort involved in keeping your friends from either murdering each other or doing something else equally inappropriate for a city street. "Um, guys," he began, nudging a little harder this time, "we've got company..."

Untangling himself from Tas’ limbs and turning in the direction of Tanis’ gaze, Flint found himself looking at a ragged gathering of youths, their faces familiar in an unpleasant sort of way. "Freaks," he muttered, taking in their pointedly intimidating stances and darkly threatening expressions.

Their leader stepped forward a pace. "Come now, Flint," he replied mildly. "There’s no need for name calling. You know very well who I am, just as I know who _you_ are."

"Perhaps you should remind me." Flint sneered at his former classmate.

"Fewmaster Toede," came the terse reply. "Leader of the Solace Sentinels."

Tanis raised an eyebrow. "And who are they when they’re at home?"

"We keep Solace safe from undesirables like yourselves," Toede answered, beginning to become obviously infuriated. 

"Since when?" Tas regarded the black-clad group with interest. "I don’t remember the Solace Sentinels being around before I went away for the summer."

"As far as _I_ can recall," Flint added, "the Seekers were the main gang of wannabe toughs in Solace." He smiled in recollection. "And you were working at that butcher’s shop on Main Street, weren’t you?"

"Things change," Toede snapped. "The Seekers are our affiliates."

"Affiliates?" Tanis laughed. "That’s a big word for someone who dropped out of school without even finishing his sophomore year."

Flint joined in with the laughter, watching in amusement as Toede’s ogre-like face darkened to an unattractive puce. 

Finally, Toede managed to calm down enough to speak. "Just because you think you’re so goddamn popular," he spat, "doesn’t mean you can get away with being rude." He gestured to the silent figures behind him. "We own this part of town and you’ve no right to be insulting us in our own territory."

" _Your_ territory?" Flint glared at the taller boy. "Last time I checked, this was a public footpath."

"What did I say? Things have changed." He turned to his followers. "Give ‘em a kicking, boys."

As Flint, Tas and Tanis burst into disbelieving laughter, the Solace Sentinels began to close in around them.

"If you find the blue crystal amulet on them, bring it to me," Toede ordered as he moved to what he presumably thought was a safer position.

"You might want to back away, freaks," Tanis said calmly to the gang members now surrounding them. "I wouldn’t want any of you to get hurt."

From his new position, perched half way up a tree in the garden adjacent to the pavement, Toede snarled derisively and yelled down at his lackeys. "If they resist, you might as well take them down to their precious high school and humiliate them on the front lawn. We’ll show them not to laugh at the mighty Sentinels!"

"You’ve been watching ‘West Side Story’ again, haven’t you?" Flint remarked dryly, casting his backpack to one side and cracking his knuckles in readiness.

As always, Tanis took the lead, stepping forward and glaring at the gang members before moving over to stand at the base of Toede’s commandeered tree. "We’ve had a long walk from our homes. I slept in, so I didn’t even get to have breakfast, which means I’m feeling rather hungry and irritable at this point in time. More importantly, though, thanks to you, we’re now running late for school. We haven’t seen our friends all summer and I don’t appreciate being prevented from doing so by the likes of you." 

With a quick, fluid movement, Tanis reached up to grab the lower part of Toede’s faded Megadeath tee shirt. "We’ve no intention of being given a ‘kicking’, let alone being humiliated in front of the low lives of Solace High." He cast a smirk towards Flint and Tas before giving the tee shirt a solid tug, pulling Toede from the tree and sending him tumbling to the ground. His head cracked against the pavement with a dull thump and he lay there without moving, unconscious.

Dusting off his hands, Tanis rejoined his friends. "Personally, I can’t think of any way they could possibly humiliate _us_ ," he remarked confidently.

Flint patted him on the back proudly, before turning to regard their aggravators. "Freaks in Solace," he muttered unhappily. "I never thought I’d see the day when their type wandered the streets, thinking they owned the place. Do they think they’re going to somehow fight their way to popularity?" He shook his head as he took in the body of Toede lying prone on the ground. "They’re certainly not going to win any friends by following the orders of that idiot."

Tas took a step forward to peer unblinkingly into the face of the largest of the remaining gang members. "Freaks like these will fight for anyone," he shrugged. "Throw ‘em a few promises of girls and popularity every once in a while and they’ll be your bitch forever."

The boy he was studying came alive with a growl. "I’ll show you who’s the bitch," he snarled, pulling back a fist to punch Tas.

Tas just smiled and bent down, taking the boy’s jeans with him and revealing a pair of satin boxer shorts decorated with lurid pictures of flowers and teddy bears. Yelping, the boy ran off to the soundtrack of his friends’ laughter.

Tanis, meanwhile, was trying to question an equally violent youth who had an alarmingly sharp spike sticking out from just below his bottom lip. "What does the leader of the Seekers want with freaks like you?" he asked, as he dodged a clumsy punch. 

Glaring, his pierced assailant tried again, missing horribly. "Hederick?" he laughed. "He’s not such a big shot any more. He and Toede both work for…"

Sick of the boy’s prattle, Flint stepped in and whacked him on the head with Tas’ backpack. Dazed, he fell to the ground, clutching at his skull and undoubtedly seeing a few cartoon canaries circling around his head.

"Why’d you do that?" Tanis asked crossly. "I was about to learn something!"

"We’ll learn a lot more if we get to school on time," Flint answered wisely, expecting a nod of agreement from Tanis and eventually getting it.

"True." Tanis brushed down his clothes and smoothed his hair before turning to his friends. "Do I look okay?"

Flint smiled knowingly. "Want to look good for Kitiara, do you?" he teased.

Tanis answered with a warning look and an exasperated sigh.

Grinning, Flint clapped Tas on the back and hefted his backpack onto one shoulder. "Come on," he said brightly, feeling all the more cheerful for a good fight. "We’re going to be late."


	2. Chapter 2

The halls of Solace High were crowded with students as Flint, Tanis and Tas searched for the rest of their group. With almost every second step there was a friend to be greeted or an unpopular person to be sneered at. Traveling at such a slow pace, it took them a remarkably long time to reach their favorite part of the school, a secluded corner of the lower floor tucked between a little-used staircase and a couple of offices belonging to relatively affable teachers. 

Even this place was crowded that morning, however. As the friends grew closer, Flint could make out faces from several different cliques. Huddled beneath the staircase stood a small cluster of Seekers, while off to another side stood a couple of guys from the school basketball team. Some of the students were munching on junk food ‘breakfasts’, while others sipped from polystyrene cups.

"At least I can’t see any geeks hanging around," Tas commented, looking around the faces, presumably in search of their friends. "Although I don’t know where all these people came from."

"Perhaps there’s been a sudden jump in the enrollment," Tanis suggested.

"I wouldn’t be surprised," Flint grumbled. "If the Seekers have been going mad over the summer, there are probably a lot of parents out there wanting to make sure their kids don’t end up the same."

"I wonder if they realize that half the Seekers go to school here," Tas wondered out loud. "Most of them are juniors this year, like me."

Peering from side to side, Tanis frowned. "Perhaps our friends will know more about what’s going on – if we can ever find them." He shrugged. "They may not even be here."

"They’ll be here," Flint replied firmly. "Before we all went our separate ways for the summer, we all promised to meet back here on this very day. It was almost like a sacred oath or something."

Tas grinned. "Cool!"

"Cool?" Flint sighed in exasperation. "Do you even _remember_ our goal for the summer, Tas?"

Tas looked blank.

"We were meant to find out about fraternities and sororities ready for college next year. Does that ring any bells?" Flint’s tone was cross but his eyes remained warm as he lightly punched Tas in the arm. "Blasted klepto," he muttered familiarly before turning back to Tanis. "I still can’t believe we arrived back on holidays to find that bunch of undesirables right on our doorstep," he grumbled. "Why, if I ever so much as…"

Flint’s speech turned into a quiet "oof" as he ran straight into the solid form of another boy. Shaking his head, a little dazed, he stood back and blinked in surprise.

Grinning broadly, Tanis grabbed the hand of Flint’s accidental assailant and pumped it earnestly. "Caramon!" he exclaimed happily. "I was beginning to wonder if you had made it." 

"Of course I’m here, Tanis." Caramon returned his smile enthusiastically. 

Standing back a little, Tanis took in the form of his friend. It wasn’t surprising that Flint had been winded a little by their collision, as Caramon was decked out in full football uniform, complete with padding. Even without the helmet, however, he would still have been a couple of inches taller than when they had last met.

"You’ve grown!" Tanis exclaimed. "And what’s with the uniform? The season doesn’t start for months."

"Sturm and I were meant to get in a little practice before school," Caramon explained. "He’s not here yet, though, so I guess I should go get changed or something."

"Not yet," Tanis implored him. "We’ve only just met up!" The smile dropped from his face and he regarded the larger boy a little more earnestly. "What about Raistlin?" he asked, almost fearing the answer. "You two are never very far apart."

Caramon’s own expression darkened a little at the mention of his twin. "I’ll take you guys to him," he said quietly. "But I should warn you. He’s changed…"

"Changed?" Tas asked, curiosity piqued. "What’s he changed into? That sounds like fun."

"You’ll see."

Tanis’ heart sped up a little as Caramon led them over to the staircase. Although he would never have admitted it to himself, he’d been waiting for this moment all summer. Raistlin could be disconcerting to be around at times, but Tanis had missed him for some unknown reason. It would be good to see him again, changed or not.

Finally, he caught sight of Raistlin’s thin form, his face still hidden by the folds of that ridiculous red cloak he always insisted on wearing. Despite himself, Tanis felt a smile creep onto his face.

"Here he is," Caramon said quietly, before moving to his brother’s side. "Raistlin?"

Raistlin looked up, the cloak falling back from his face. "Tanis?"

Tanis couldn’t help but gasp lightly as his eyes took in Raistlin’s changed appearance. His hair hung long around his face, now the color of midnight, a stark contrast to the startling white of his skin. His eyes, once the same shade of brown as Caramon’s, were now a frightening golden hue, the pupils shaped into hourglass by what Tanis could only assume were contact lenses. The black kohl line along the top and the bottom of his lids deepened the effect.

"I can see my new look surprises you," Raistlin remarked calmly, eyes fixed on Tanis’ own.

"Of course it effin’ surprises me!" Tanis threw back. "What the _hell_ have you done to yourself?"

"Jesus Christ!" Flint chipped in, as tactful as ever. "You look like a blasted goth or something!"

"Yes, Flint Fireforge," Raistlin replied, the expression on his face not changing from the original serene mask, "I suppose I do."

Tanis sat down beside him on the stairs. "What happened?" he asked, a little calmer now that he’d had time to grow slightly more used to the look.

After all, it wasn’t that Raistlin looked _bad_ as such, more that he didn’t look like one of them any more – if, indeed, he ever _had_ done. Looking at him now (not that he was looking _too_ closely, mind you), Tanis could see that the darker hair quite suited him really. If it wasn’t for those spooky contact lenses, he might actually look quite…

Luckily, Raistlin’s voice cut into Tanis’ thoughts before they took him somewhere he didn’t want to go.

"If you remember," he began, "Caramon and I went to visit our grandparents for the summer. Not long after we got there, we met up with a group of local kids who were all around our age."

"They were all weirdos, that’s what they were," Caramon chipped in sullenly, before being silenced by a glare from his twin.

"I’d been messing around with witchcraft for years, but these people really knew what they were talking about," Raistlin went on, his face lighting up a little, as if it pleased him to talk about it. "They were _real_ pagans, you know?"

Tanis _didn’t_ know, but he presumed it had been a rhetorical question.

"They taught me everything they knew." Raistlin reached beneath his black tee shirt and pulled out a silver pendant in the shape of a pentacle. "And they gave me this. It once belonged to a guy called Magius, who was like the best warlock ever or something."

"What about your appearance, though?" Tanis prompted him.

"It goes with the territory," Raistlin replied in an off-hand manner.

"Doesn’t everything look a bit weird through those contact lenses?" Tas asked.

"Actually, you all look really old," he shrugged. "But it’s not much of a price to pay."

"I look old?" Tanis frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that. "In a bad way?"

"I can see you withering and dying by inches right in front of me." Just as Tanis was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable, Raistlin smiled shyly. "Just kidding. You look fine."

Tanis returned the smile, feeling a lot better now that he knew he didn’t look hideous – even if it were only in Raistlin’s creepy new eyes.

"So, can you do magic now and stuff like that?" Tas bounced over to sit at Raistlin’s other side, a hand wandering beneath the cape but quickly being slapped away again.

"I could before," Raistlin argued a little petulantly. "I’m heaps better at it now, though. I may not look very powerful, but you’d be surprised."

"You still look like a blasted goth," Flint grumbled.

"Well I’m not," Raistlin snapped, obviously tired of all the questioning. "I’m a pagan, okay?"

"Who’s a pagan?"

Raistlin looked up to see a young looking redhead regarding him with undisguised curiosity. There was something quite familiar about her appearance, although he couldn’t quite place her. He supposed that other guys might call her pretty, but he wasn’t really into that sort of thing, preferring to leave such nonsense to his brother.

"What business is it of yours?" he asked rather harshly, sick of being stared at as if he were some sort of freak. It was bad enough that Tanis had been shocked, without now being questioned by some strange kid.

"Tika?" Caramon asked from one side, staring at the girl as though he was looking at a ghost. "Tika the freshman?"

The girl nodded and smiled at him. "That’s me. Remember how last year you used to say my parents would have to _pay_ someone to marry me, I was so ugly?"

"You’ve got your braces off," Caramon replied dumbly.

"Yep."

Raistlin felt ill. His brother could be so damn simpleminded at times, especially when girls were involved. Now that this particular girl’s identity had been revealed, he could vaguely place her. She’d hung around them a bit towards the end of the previous year, staring at Caramon with big adoring eyes just like most of the other girls at Solace High and a mouthful of glistening metal. Somehow, though, he doubted that the loss of Tika’s braces was the real change causing Caramon’s eyes to half bug out of his head. The true cause was much more likely to be the generous curves that had suddenly appeared over the summer.

"You look…very… nice," Caramon stammered, causing Raistlin to roll his eyes.

His brother could be such a complete dickhead when he set his mind to it.

"Thanks." Tika smiled widely, showing off her metal-free teeth to half the corridor. "Oh, I almost forgot. Some kid carrying a laptop gave me this to give to you guys." 

She pulled a note out of a pocket of her jeans and handed it to Tanis. Raistlin blinked a little as her hand made contact with that of the half-Hispanic. Wasn’t his brother enough?

"It’s from Kitiara," Tanis announced, unfolding the piece of paper.

"Yeah, where is she?" Tas asked, turning to look inquisitively at Raistlin. "I thought she’d be with you guys, being your half sister and all."

"She didn’t come on holidays with us," Raistlin replied bluntly. "They’re not her grandparents, just ours. You probably know as much about her summer activities as I do." He turned to Tanis. "What does she say?"

"She’s not coming." Tanis’ expression was unreadable.

Raistlin frowned. "She wouldn’t miss meeting up with us unless someone more interesting held her attention," he mused.

"She sends her apologies," Tanis continued, "saying that she won’t be coming back to school this year after all, as she’s found herself a full time job."

"If she hadn’t gotten herself expelled in the first place she would have finished by now anyway," Flint muttered under his breath, earning him a glare from Caramon.

"She sends her best wishes to everyone," Tanis went on, "and love to her brothers and to…" Coughing, he paused and refolded the letter. "That’s it."

Raistlin could work out the rest of the message without it being read to him. The fact that Kitiara and Tanis had been going out last year wasn’t news to any of them. They’d broken it off for the summer, just so neither would feel obliged to be faithful if a better offer came up. Obviously Kit was still thinking of Tanis, though. Raistlin wondered if Tanis was still interested in _her_. After all, he could have all of the girls at Solace High – _and_ some of the boys for that matter.

"This is bad luck," Flint grumbled, cutting into Raistlin’s thoughts. "The group’s been broken up."

"What can you tell us about the guy who gave you the note?" Tanis asked Tika, shoving the paper into a back pocket of his cargos. "I mean, did you recognize him? What did he look like?"

"I couldn’t really say. His type all look the same, if you know what I mean?" Tika frowned, as if in intense concentration. "The thing I remember most is the computer he was carting around. At the time I almost giggled out loud, thinking that it was probably filled with porn he’d downloaded from the Internet. And he used a lot of big words. The sort of words you get on spelling tests."

"That’s it?" Tanis was disappointed. That could have been all manner of people. It could have been a student, or it could have been someone else entirely.

"Sorry." Tika shrugged. "That new teacher saw him, though."

"What new teacher?"

Tika pointed over one shoulder, obviously not wanting to take her eyes away from Caramon’s face. Tanis allowed himself a small smile at that development before following the line of her finger. A white-haired man stood over beside the door to one of the offices, surrounded by what looked to be freshmen.

"He turned up just a while before you guys got here," Tika explained. "Those freshmen seem to love him. He’s been telling them stories about all the schools he’s worked in. From what I’ve caught of the conversation, he’s been to pretty much every state in America."

Tanis nodded. It might be worth asking the teacher later to see if he could identify the bearer of the note. If Kitiara was working somewhere in town, it seemed silly not to at least pay her a visit. Of course, he wouldn’t tell her about the girl from Arizona. Just like he didn’t much feel like telling Raistlin either. He already knew the exact look his friend would get on his face: a guilt-enhancing combination of hurt and scorn. Better not to tell him at all.

Flint’s happy shout tore Tanis from his thoughts. "Sturm!"

Looking up, Tanis saw that very person walking towards them, flanked by two strangers, a tall boy and a stunningly pretty girl. Smiling warmly, he stood to meet his friend.

Taking Tanis’ place, Caramon flopped down on the step beside his brother. "I wonder where he found those two," he mused in a loud stage whisper. "They’re obviously not from around here."

"I think you’ll find that the politically correct term is ‘African American’, Caramon," Raistlin replied, amusement evident in his tone. "It’s not like they’re barbarians or anything."

Tanis suppressed a grin, reaching out to grasp Sturm’s hand within his own. "I was worried you weren’t coming," he said warmly. A flash of gold on the other boy’s denim jacket caught his eye and he looked down at the source. The light had been reflecting off a smallish badge in the shape of a shield, engraved with the initials C and P. "I see they’ve already given you your class president badge," he commented. "Your father must be really proud of you."

Sturm shrugged shyly, appearing to be blushing a little. "He is pretty happy about it," he admitted. "He was president of _his_ senior year too, you know."

Tanis nodded. "I remember." He turned to smile at Sturm’s companions. "And who are these two?" he asked mildly.

"I found them wandering the halls," Sturm replied. "They seemed quite lost and as though they were decent types. I wouldn’t have wanted them to be grabbed by anyone undesirable; their life at Solace High would have been over pretty much before it started."

"Good idea." Tanis cast a quick glance back to Raistlin before quietly asking, "Have you heard anything about Kitiara?"

Sturm shook his head. "I haven’t seen her since we parted for the summer. She’s not here?"

"No. She sent her apologies. Apparently, she’s found herself a job."

In the background, Tas was introducing himself to the new students. Sturm gave the younger boy a disparaging look and Tanis reminded himself to search the junior’s pockets once he got the chance.

"How do you feel about that?" Sturm asked.

"I don’t know," Tanis replied honestly. He stayed quiet for a moment then forced a smile onto his face. "It’s good to see _you_ , though," he said, and that was the truth too.

It was good to see all of his friends. Already, his time in Arizona was fading into the background, along with their confrontation with the Sentinels on their way to school. There were new friends to get to know and old ones to catch up with and he was finally a senior. It looked like it was going to be a good year. 

**24-08-2001**


End file.
